Discharge of meteoric water in the eastern Norwegian Sea since the last glacial period

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Hong, Wei-Li, Lepland, Aivo, Himmler, Tobias, Kim, Ji-Hoon, Chand, Shyam, Sahy, Diana, Solomon, Evan A., Rae, James W. B., Martma, Tõnu, Nam, Seung-Il, Knies, Jochen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Ssubmarine groundwater discharge; Arctic Ocean; Methane emission; Authigenic mineral; Northern Norway; Norwegian Sea; permafrost
• Online Access: https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/discharge-of-meteoric-water-in-the-eastern-norwegian-sea-since-the-last-glacial-period(5d7838fe-18d4-4228-95e4-49919296d997).html; https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084237; https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/18146/1/Hong_2019_GRL_Meteoricwater_CC.pdf

Submarine groundwater discharge could impact the transport of critical solutes to the ocean. However, its driver(s), significance over geological time scales, and geographical coverage are poorly understood. We characterize a submarine groundwater seep from the continental slope off northern Norway where substantial amount of meteoric water was detected. We reconstruct the seepage history from textural relationships and U-Th geochronology of authigenic minerals. We demonstrate how glacial-interglacial dynamics promoted submarine groundwater circulation more than 100 km offshore and resulted in high fluxes of critical solutes to the ocean. This cryosphere-hydrosphere coupling is likely common in the circum-Arctic implying that future decay of glaciers and permafrost in a warming Arctic is expected to attenuate such a coupled process and thus decrease the export of critical solutes.